June 9, 2025 • 41 mins
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The mobility landscape is transforming rapidly, with innovations that make clean transportation more accessible to underserved communities. Massachusetts' new e-bike incentive program offers vouchers up to $1,200 for lower-income residents, addressing transportation deserts where public transit is limited and car ownership impossible. These electric-assisted bikes flatten hills and shorten distances without excessive exertion, creating practical mobility solutions for those previously left behind.
Meanwhile, a disturbing technological development threatens our ability to trust what we see online. Real-time deepfake fraud has evolved beyond primitive, easily-spotted fakes to sophisticated live manipulations where scammers can completely transform their appearance and voice during video calls. This technology, now inexpensive and accessible to anyone, enables romance scams, fraudulent vehicle purchases, and corporate infiltration with unprecedented realism. The old wisdom of "believe half of what you see" has given way to a world where visual verification itself is suspect.
On a more promising front, the race to develop solid-state batteries continues with Massachusetts startup Factorial leading the charge. Having already tested their technology in a real-world Mercedes EV, Factorial is working to overcome the technical challenges that have prevented widespread adoption of this revolutionary battery chemistry. Solid-state batteries promise faster charging, greater range, and elimination of fire risks associated with conventional lithium-ion batteries. Though commercial production remains years away, the advances made during this development race will likely yield innovations benefiting industries far beyond electric vehicles.
Want to join the conversation about how technology is reshaping mobility? Call or text our hotline at 872-222-9793 or email talk@techmobilityshow.com to share your thoughts on these transformative developments.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
Welcome to the Tech Mobility Podcast.
Speaker 2 (00:10):
I'm Ken Chester On the docket.
Real-time deep-faith fraud ishere, the perfect EV battery and
introducing Mecco, boston'sfirst and only pod hotel.
To add your voice to theconversation, be it to ask a
question, share an opinion oreven suggest a topic for future
(00:31):
discussion, call or text theTechMobility hotline, that
number, 872-222-9793.
Or you can email the showdirectly.
Talk at techmobilityshow.
For those of you who subscribeto Substack, you can find me
there too.
It's at Ken, the letter C, iowa, i-o-w-a.
(00:55):
So Ken, K-E-N-C-I-O-W-A.
You can find me there From theTech Mobility News Desk, me
there From the TechMobility NewsDesk.
I've said a lot and I'm going tosay it again.
We are a mobility show and atechnology show and I like to
(01:19):
talk about being at thatintersection because there's so
much going on right now that isafoot in both worlds and a lot
of time and increasingly thetechnology, no matter where it's
developed, gets related at somepoint to mobility.
It's really cool and it'salmost regardless of what it is.
I literally could almost alwaystie it to some mode of
(01:39):
transportation, some kind of way.
This is one of these.
This is in Massachusetts and,yes, it's where I'm from and I
do subscribe to the Boston Globefull disclosure, and
occasionally I find interestingthings.
This is one of them.
The Commonwealth ofMassachusetts is launching what
(02:00):
they call an e-bike incentiveprogram, and the state is
targeting lower-income residents, although cycling advocates are
hoping the state eventuallyexpands the program.
Now, to be fair, the numbersthey're talking is a drop in the
bucket.
The Commonwealth ofMassachusetts has 351 cities and
(02:20):
towns, over 12 counties, with apopulation of 5 million people.
This is literally a fewthousand, but what makes it
interesting, what makes it worthtalking about?
It's an attempt, which is partof a national attempt, to make
technology available to peoplethat don't have any other way of
(02:44):
travel.
They may be in a transportationdesert.
Public transportation may beblocks away, whether it be a bus
or a train or a subway.
Walking might be prohibited,particularly if you're trying to
carry groceries or you've got afamily.
But you may be in a positionwhere you can't afford a car.
Uber is too expensive for youand you do a lot of walking.
(03:06):
While walking is great, it hasits limits Weather, when you
need to haul stuff, things likethat.
What they're looking at and it'snot just in Massachusetts, but
what they're talking about iselectric bikes, which is pretty
awesome when you think about itIf you're not familiar with how
(03:27):
e-bikes really work.
It's a pedal bike with electricassist, which means, yes, you
can pedal, but if you need helpgetting up hills, you've got
that.
Think of it as a hybrid forbikes, where you've got your
personal energy with an electricassist.
Much the same way, a hybrid hasgasoline energy with an
(03:49):
electric assist and would comein really handy.
Rolling this out, they want itto be a transportation option
that would otherwise not beavailable.
Now you say, well, gee,electric bikes, they must be
expensive.
Well, they are Compared to aregular bike, which could even
(04:11):
cost you up to $1,000, these aredouble that.
E-bikes cost an average of twogrand to purchase and many
cities and several states havebegun offering discounts to cut
back on road congestion andclimate warming emission from
cars.
Now Massachusetts is rollingout 3,000 vouchers over a
(04:33):
six-month period, which canreach up to $1,200 in discounts
at participatingbrick-and-mortar retailers.
So they're basicallysubsidizing people of limited
income or lower means to be ableto get a bike.
Now the beautiful part aboutthe bikes that they're offering
they're offering some thingscalled cargo bikes, which takes
(04:53):
an e-bike to the next level andactually lets you carry stuff
like maybe groceries or anotherindividual or something like
that.
Those also qualify and thatwould be a real help.
They said we do think it willsell out.
Sell out.
I anticipate they probably havea waiting list.
If you're in easternMassachusetts, which is pretty
(05:15):
heavily settled, even when youget outside of Boston, if you go
within 50 miles ofMassachusetts, it's pretty
thickly settled and publictransportation is a benefit,
particularly now that in theyears that I've left the state,
traffic in eastern Massachusettshas gone from difficult to
impossible.
The roads are not wide.
(05:37):
I mean they were cow paths 100years ago, 200 years ago, and
they were limited in terms ofwhat they could build, both in
infrastructure and availablespace.
So Eastern Massachusetts, youcan forget about it.
However, walking doesn't lenditself because in those suburbs
sidewalks are not consistent oruser-friendly all the time.
(06:00):
So an e-bike could be thesolution when you're trying to
get around, when you're outsideof or away from public
transportation, which is stilleven in Massachusetts.
There's a lot of it, butthere's still places where you
can't, or the schedule is notuser-friendly for what you need
to do or you've got errands ordoctor's appointments and stuff
(06:22):
like that.
Initially the state said about500 vouchers will be equally
distributed across five regionsof the state and, as I mentioned
earlier, can also be used one-cargo bikes designed to haul
children or large loads, andadaptive e-bikes.
This is a quote.
E-bikes are magic carpets.
(06:42):
These things flatten hills,they shorten distances, they
allow you to arrive at yourdestination without big exertion
, making them a fundamentalchoice for performing errands or
traveling to work.
And that's from Scott Mullen,transportation and man
Management Director atBoston-based nonprofit A Better
City.
Not everyone can afford an EVand, as I have lamented many
(07:08):
times that right now, the waythat EVs work and the
availability of public chargingand the lack of private charging
unless you own a home, makes it, if you're an apartment dweller
, owning an EV is difficult, ifnot downright inconvenient,
unless you spend a lot of moneyand you have one with phenomenal
range.
We're not there yet, even forme.
(07:30):
I am fortunate.
As an apartment dweller, I dohave EV facilities within three
miles of my house.
However, it's stillinconvenient because it doesn't
have any kind of roof or shelter, which means in all weather.
I will be out in all weather ifI owned an EV, and right now,
with the technology being whatit is extreme heat and extreme
(07:53):
cold, impact range big time.
They can fix that and I'mexpecting in future years they
will, but right now this iswhere you're at.
Well, but right now this iswhere you're at.
So even if you had a vehiclewith a range of 300 miles in a
cold Iowa winter, if it sat fora couple of days, you could lose
60, 70, 80 of those miles justbecause it sat in a cold,
(08:13):
because you didn't have a garage, you couldn't keep it heated.
These e-bikes fill the gap forfolks who don't own a home,
can't afford an EV, have limitedchoices relative to
transportation.
This gives these folks anopportunity to participate in
(08:33):
clean transportation, getsomething that will actually be
a help to them, because I can'timagine working a service job
and having to ride your bikehome after working all day
usually eight, 10, heaven knowshow many hours.
An e-bike would be helpful,particularly if there are hills
in your commute and particularlyif the commute you need to make
(08:54):
doesn't happen to go along anyconvenient bus lines or the
hours that you need to workdon't coincide with the bus or
train schedule.
This would be a help.
This would be a help.
This would be a help.
According to Massachusetts, in2022,.
They launched this, ebaylaunched the beginning of the
(09:18):
rebate program to help meet thestate's aggressive climate goals
to zero out greenhouse gasemissions by 2050 and add
150,000 electric vehicles to theroad by the end of 2024.
Yeah, they fell short becausethere's a lot more work to do.
We've talked about that.
People have tried to criticizeme for not talking about that
(09:40):
side of it and I've talked aboutit extensively.
If you want to go back, go backabout 18 months ago, when I
talked about my trip to Chicagoin an EV and I talked about the
shortcomings and the fact thatit added three hours to my
five-hour trip and I was stilllate.
And that was with high-speed,available and working EV
(10:02):
chargers.
What you hear now, what you see, is convincingly faked.
Welcome to the age of real-timedeepfake fraud.
You are listening to the TechMobility Show.
Speaker 1 (10:15):
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Speaker 2 (10:46):
Social media is the main place to be these days, and
we are no exception.
I'm Ken Chester of the TechMobility Show.
If you enjoy my program, thenyou will also enjoy my weekly
Facebook videos, from my latestvehicle reviews to timely
commentary of a variety ofmobility and technology-related
topics.
These short features aredesigned to inform and delight
you.
Be sure to watch, like andfollow us on Facebook.
(11:08):
You can find us by typing theTech Mobility Show in the search
bar.
Be sure to subscribe to ourFacebook page.
Social media is the place to bethese days.
We're no exception.
I'm ken chester, the techmobility show.
If you enjoy my program, thenyou will also enjoy my weekly
instagram videos, from thelatest vehicle reviews to timely
(11:30):
commentary on a variety ofmobility and technology related
topics.
These short features aredesigned to inform and delight
you be sure to watch, like andfollow us on Instagram.
You can find us by typing theTech Mobility Show in the search
bar.
For those of you that listen topodcasts, we have just the one
for you.
Hi, I'm Ken Chester.
(11:50):
Tech Mobility Topics is apodcast where I upload
topic-specific videos each week,shorter than a full show.
These bite-sized programs arejust the thing, particularly if
you're interested in aparticular topic covered on the
weekly radio show, from ApplePodcasts to iHeartRadio and many
podcast platforms in between.
We got you covered.
Just enter Tech Mobility Topicsin the search bar, wherever you
(12:12):
listen to podcasts.
Speaker 3 (12:19):
The new Saab 900.
It won Automobile Magazine'sDesign of the Year.
Consumers Digest rated it aBest Buy.
Kiplinger's Personal FinanceMagazine called it the best new
car in its class, but with a 50%stiffer body.
The new 900 is designed tosurvive much more than the
(12:39):
scrutiny of the press.
Test drive the Saab 900, a new900 turbo coupe.
Speaker 2 (12:48):
You would have loved that TV commercial.
This is from the late 80s early90s.
It's the Saab 900.
And what they showed is a groupof five guys come up to the car
while an aerator is talking,pick the car up and turn it over
, roll it on its roof and thenroll it back on its wheels and
then, once they've done that,got into the car and drove it
(13:10):
away.
Now the commercial also gives adisclosure at the bottom that
this is an unmodified car, inother words, a regular
production car.
They did not do anything to itand the point they wanted to
make visually is how strong thecar is, that, yeah, you could
roll it over on its top and thenroll it back over and it'll
drive away.
It's fine, powerful message.
(13:32):
Just two bad subs not aroundanymore, and that's a case of
corporate shenanigans when GMbought them and then got caught
up in financial hard times backin the recession about 15 years
ago, and now SOPS no more.
But it was pretty cool.
Artificial intelligence anddeep fake software it's the
(13:56):
perfect marriage of tools andmethods that are easily
available to secure and use byanybody.
Needless to say, fraudsters andother bad actors of all stripes
have been having a field day,from online romance scams to
defrauding car dealers and eventhe h HR departments of major
(14:16):
tech companies.
The nightmare is real.
This is topic A.
It used to be that you couldeasily spot these scammers.
Things didn't add up quiteright the speech was a little
broken, the video wasn't in syncor looked just a little off.
(14:37):
That was then.
In the last five years, thesetools have gotten so
increasingly sophisticated.
The old folks used to have asaying believe half of what you
see and none of what you hear.
Nowadays is you can't believewhat you see or hear.
(14:57):
I've talked about, off and onand down through the last year
or so, all sorts of scamminggoing on.
I mean the romance scams havebeen going on forever.
Now it's bad where people canactually disguise themselves in
real time and that's the kicker.
(15:19):
Before they had to kind of putit together and it was ways you
could tell because they had todo it a bit.
But the software is so goodthey can fake you out talking to
you in real time and youwouldn't realize that the person
you think you're talking to,that you see on your device, is
not the person Completelydifferent person who's disguised
their look disguised their lookdisguised, their voice,
(15:40):
disguised, their surroundings.
And what's scary is, in somecases this stuff is good enough
to start to defeat an otherwisefool.
The automated process isdesigned to catch this stuff.
In the banking industry theycall those tools KYC know your
(16:04):
customer and a certainbenchmarks and certain things
that they do to make sure youare who you say you are when
they see you.
We've talked about in the pastabout remote vehicle buying and
how that has become an issue andthe car dealership is ground
(16:27):
zero for them.
Trying to prove this to thepoint where car dealers now,
even if you're going to buy itat your home, require an
in-person visit at least one,because they're finding that
looking at the phone and even ifeverything else checks out
don't work, they're stillgetting fooled and the
(16:49):
consequences of them notcatching it could be billions,
not millions, of dollars.
The new scam now, as they'regoing into business, is they are
sending and this is happening.
I just read a piece about this.
There are legions of SouthKoreans holing up, masquerading
(17:09):
as other people to get jobslegitimate jobs in major
companies, with the attempt todefraud them by either getting
access to sensitive informationand then blackmailing with it,
or other, infiltrating tomanipulate from within the
company.
And even if they get found outthey've got enough information
by that time.
(17:29):
They threaten to go public withit unless the company pays them
a fee.
This is not theory, this ishappening right now.
There was a piece in the WallStreet Journal I just saw it
where the writer actually tookus through a video that she did,
where she showed us how shecould disguise, look like
(17:53):
somebody different, talk in adifferent voice, do different
things in real time, and thenshe took us behind the veil to
show us what software she used,what images they used, what they
ran it through.
But here's the kicker that kindof power, that kind of software
used to cost a lot of money.
It doesn't anymore and in factsome of it is open source,
(18:16):
meaning you don't have to payanything.
Doesn't anymore, and in factsome of it is open source,
meaning you don't have to payanything, and it continues to
get better and better and better.
Let me give an example.
I don't want to say innocent,because it really isn't, but
here's something.
This is a piece from 404 Media.
(18:37):
The title is Real-Time, deepFake Fraud is here and it gives
an example and I'm going to readthis to you because I want you
to get an idea.
I'm going to read theseparagraphs to you Because I
think it explains it.
In this one example and I quoteAt least now, I saw that you're
way more gorgeous and beautifulthan you were in the photo you
(19:00):
sent me.
An older white man with agraying beard said during a
Skype video call he's talking toan elderly woman who appears to
be in her car staring at herphone's front-facing camera.
She laughs at the compliment.
The smiling man keeps going.
I think I should send securityto keep you safe so no one comes
.
He says.
To that, the woman laughs evenmore.
I'll be okay.
(19:20):
She reassures the man.
But the bearded man, however,doesn't really exist.
Instead, he's a real-time deepfake created by a fraudster
likely to lure the woman as partof a romance scam and have her
send money.
Someone filming the interactioncaptures what is really
happening.
This is what really was goingon.
(19:42):
A young black man is sitting infront of a laptop with a webcam
, and software is thenautomatically transforming his
appearance to that of a mucholder white man and feeding that
into Skype.
All live, live, on the fly, inreal time.
And this software is now sogood that one of the ways that
(20:03):
usually you could catch it bythem holding things or holding
things up your face uh-uh, thatdoesn't even kick it.
This is the reality of fraudtoday, where scammers are able
to digitally manipulate theirappearance in real time to match
a photo on a driver's license,dating profile or a celebrity
Like a chameleon.
(20:23):
These scammers, who could beinvolved in everything from
romance scams like the one wejust talked about to fraudulent
tax refunds, can hide their trueappearance with just a laptop
and a phone and produce veryrealistic results, and they're
getting to a point where theywill be able to fool the best
systems that are currently beingused by industry to detect them
(20:47):
.
This actually went into thedetail of the software they use.
All of it is available.
You can get all of it, and I amnot talking thousands of
dollars either.
This is what you need to beaware of.
Be careful.
Can a Massachusetts startupengineer the perfect EV battery?
This is the Tech Mobility Show.
(21:17):
Do you listen to podcasts?
Seems that most people do.
Hi, I'm Ken Chester, host ofthe Tech Mobility Show.
If you missed any of our weeklyepisodes on the radio, our
podcast is a great way to listen.
You can find the Tech MobilityPodcast just about anywhere you
can enjoy podcasts.
Be sure to follow us from ApplePodcasts, iheart Radio and many
platforms in between.
(21:37):
We are there.
Just enter the Tech MobilityPodcast in the search bar.
Wherever you listen to podcasts, social media, it's the place
to be, and we're no exception.
Hi, I'm Ken Chester, host ofthe Tech Mobility Show.
Several times a week I post toTikTok several of the topics
that I cover on my weekly radioshow.
(21:59):
It's another way to keep up onmobility, technology news and
information.
I've built quite a library ofshort videos for your viewing
pleasure, so be sure to watch,like and subscribe.
That's the Tech Mobility Showon TikTok.
Check it out.
(22:25):
Lithium-ion batteries.
Lithium ion batteries this isthe chemistry that powers most
mobile electrical devices thatare not plugged in, from your
cell phone to the average ev.
The chemistry is actually ametal slurry that comes with a
list of downsides, which caninclude shorting out and causing
a thermal runaway, whichresults in those difficult to
extinguish fires you may haveseen on social media.
But what if a new kind ofelectric vehicle battery can do
away with the bad things of thecurrent batteries?
(22:46):
Do it for less money and longerrange.
This is the goal of a smallMassachusetts startup.
This is topic B.
The name of the company isFactorial.
This is topic B.
The name of the company isFactorial, and I need to give
you full disclosure that bothMercedes and several other
automakers have invested in thissmall company and they're
(23:08):
trying to do what Toyota,hyundai and a handful of other
companies are attempting to do.
They want to develop a saferalternative to lithium ion the
way it is now, and it's calledsolid state.
We started talking about solidstate batteries a number of
years ago when Toyota said atthe beginning of the decade at
(23:29):
the Tokyo Games Olympic Gamesthat they believed at that time
that they would have a prototypeand that solid-state batteries
would be in production by themiddle of this decade, and they
were talking some phenomenalmileage figures.
It was phenomenal.
Problem is it's not happening.
(23:50):
I'm going to explain why thatin a minute.
In the case of Factorial, they,to public knowledge, is the
first and only battery companydeveloping a solid state
alternative to lithium ion thatactually has tested their
batteries in an EV in real worldexperience.
(24:13):
There's a lot of companieschasing.
There's a lot of companieschasing, but right now, to
(24:34):
historical knowledge.
Best we know, factorial is theonly one that actually got it
done back in 2023, actually in aMercedes-Benz, an EQS EV, using
their battery.
Let's talk about why solid-statebatteries are not.
I mean, you're looking atbillions of dollars.
There's a lot of companieschasing this right now.
So what's the problem?
Many startups have producedsolid-state battery prototypes,
but no American or Europeancarmaker has put one in a
(24:55):
production vehicle and provedthat the technology could
survive the bumps, vibrationsand moisture of the street.
Or, if they have, they kept asecret and that was up till
Factorial did it.
Here's when they did it.
Here's the big problem, becausesolid-state batteries don't
(25:20):
overheat, don't have that kindof problem.
They can be charged fasterperhaps in as little time as it
takes to fill up a car withgasoline, and they're more dense
.
They pack more energy into asmaller space, reducing weight
and increasing range.
But the reason why you haven'theard more about solid-state
(25:41):
batteries, why you cannot godown and buy an EV with a
solid-state battery pack, isbecause solid-state batteries
have one big drawback theirbattery cells, as engineered
right now, are prone to growspiky irregularities that cause
(26:02):
short circuits.
Any company that can figure outhow to get around that and
develop a battery that isdurable, safe and reasonably
easy to manufacture.
Basically, it's like theunicorn right now.
That is the number one problem.
The other problem much the sameway developing computer chips
(26:22):
requires a clean room, verysophisticated equipment and a
very sophisticated engineeringinfrastructure, which is why you
just can't buy, you can't justbuild a chip factory just
because you have the money.
You have to have the talent,the room and the expertise to do
it, and there's only a handfulof folk in the world that know
(26:44):
how to do it.
You got the same problem here.
Yields to develop these batterypacks, these battery cells, are
real tricky.
Factorial has been working nowfor three years to get their
yields up, basically to make itcommercial.
To be able to have a batteryfactory at commercial grade and
(27:04):
scale it up, they need to have ayield up over 90%.
When Factorio started theiryield was 10% here.
By the time they startedshipping battery cells to
Mercedes, their yield was 85%,still need to be 90.
And they need to be able to doit consistently.
And they're not there yet.
But neither is anybody else.
(27:27):
What people miss?
One of the big things peoplemiss about this whole EV arms
race is all the technology thatgets developed, ancillary to
developing the battery, or thechemicals or the inputs, or how
it's done.
Aerodynamic issues, weightissues, chemistry issues, all
(27:48):
get dealt with, which will havebenefits beyond the EV industry
and may in fact have benefitsfor the electrical industry and
whole other industries that arenot directly tied to it, because
of the activities and the moneybeing spent to resolve these
problems.
That is one wonderful thing.
(28:09):
If you're a certain age, youremember when President John F
Kennedy committed the UnitedStates to putting a man on the
moon in 10 years.
The Great Space Race in 10years.
The great space race 10 yearsby the end of the 1960s, july
(28:30):
20th 1969 to be.
In fact, we did just that, butthe money we spent as a country
to get there generated a lot ofinventions along the way that
had nothing to do with space atall.
Let me name drop one that'sprobably in your kitchen.
The microwave is one of thoseexamples, one of many examples.
We're doing the same thing herewith EVs.
(28:50):
In the case of Factorial, theyactually proved it in a Mercedes
, but it's just one car.
What has to happen now is theygot to put a fleet out there,
because automakers hate risk.
They're almost as bad as banksand insurance companies.
They, contrary to what you mightbelieve about automakers, risk
is not their thing.
(29:10):
They're going to drive cars.
They're going to run thesethrough extremely hot, extremely
cold, they're going to makethem wet, they're going to make
them salty, they're going to doall kinds of things to try to
make it to fail.
And once, wherever it fails,then they're going to do better
to resolve the problem, becausethey don't want it to fail when
you get it, when you buy it.
(29:32):
As a result, they don't evenexpect that there'll be vehicles
in production with solid statebatteries much before 2028, but
check this out, that's less thanthree years from now.
But even they're confident.
They believe that there may bevehicles on the road in
production with solid statebatteries in the early 2030s.
That's literally less than fiveyears away, which, in the auto
(29:56):
industry, is no time at all.
Takes longer than that to plan,build and equip an assembly
plant to bring a new productonline.
These guys are playing the longgame because, honestly, like I
told you, told you years ago andI'm going to say it again,
lithium ion is a crossoverchemical.
The current battery chemistriesare going to be obsolete in
(30:19):
five years, if not ten.
What we know now is not evengoing to be how we're powering
anything electric, includingyour phones.
There's so many new chemistriesout there all trying to get
away from the shortcomings ofregular lithium-ion as we know
it.
They'll get costs down, they'llget quality up, they'll get
charging up and they'll getdensities increased and, as a
(30:42):
result, we will all be betteroff, no telling all the
inventions that will getdiscovered along the way, which
have nothing to do with EVbatteries but will benefit from
all that money that got spent asthey develop and resolve these
problems.
Getting this to scale.
They're called pod hotels, andBoston has one.
(31:07):
We are the Tech Mobility Show.
To learn more about the TechMobility Show, start by visiting
our website.
Hi, I'm Ken Chester, host ofthe Tech Mobility Show.
The website is a treasure troveof information about me and the
(31:28):
show, as well as where to findit on the radio across the
country.
Keep up with the happenings ofthe Tech Mobility Show by
visiting techmobilityshow.
That's techmobilityshow.
You can also drop us a line attalk at techmobilityshow.
Did you know that TechMobilityhas a YouTube channel?
(31:50):
Hi, I'm Ken Chester, host ofthe TechMobility Show.
Each week, I upload a few shortvideos of some of the hot
topics that I cover during myweekly radio program.
I've designed these videos tobe informative and entertaining.
It's another way to keep up oncurrent mobility and technology
news and information.
Be sure to watch, like andsubscribe to my channel.
That's the Tech Mobility Showon YouTube.
(32:11):
Check it out.
Speaker 1 (32:15):
Are you tired of juggling multiple apps and
platforms for meetings, webinarsand staying connected?
Look no further thanAONmeetingscom, the all-in-one
browser-based platform that doesit all.
With AONmeetings, you caneffortlessly communicate with
clients, host virtual meetingsand webinars and stay in touch
with family and friends all inone place and for one price.
Here's the best part you canendure a 30-day free trial.
(32:36):
It's time to simplify your lifeand boost your productivity.
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communicate.
Speaker 2 (32:48):
Social media is the place to be these days, and
we're no exception.
I'm Ken Chester of the TechMobility Show.
If you enjoy my program, thenyou will also enjoy my weekly
Instagram videos, from thelatest vehicle reviews to timely
commentary on a variety ofmobility and technology.
So have you ever heard ofsomething called a pod hotel?
A pod hotel are hotels whereguests sleep in tiny
(33:27):
compartments with beds insidesomething known as pods.
These pods come in all shapesand sizes square and round,
metal and wooden.
Many aren't even large enoughto sit up in.
So I gotta ask what's the point?
This is Topic C.
Well, if you are a globaltraveler, particularly to Europe
(33:48):
, you probably are familiar withhostels and a hostel.
These are a lot like those, andI'm still asking what's the
point Me?
I like my privacy in my hotelroom and I snore, so you know
why would I want to be insomething like this, with
limited privacy and security asan issue?
This is Boston, by the way, notfar from the North End.
(34:10):
I used to work in the North End, so I just don't get it.
I don't get it, but here'swhat's going on.
The writer talked about podhotels and they've existed in
Japan since 1979.
I heard of them and after 40years they started blowing up on
American social media and inthe last five years they started
(34:34):
popping up in the United States.
The city of Boston has one, andI'm not surprised it's called
the Miko Hotel.
Now the Miko sits off a busyintersection, less than a block
from the TD Garden, which is theold Boston Garden, and that's
in the North End.
Like I said, I used to workthere.
Okay, they walk.
(34:57):
Let me paint you a picture ofwhat you could expect walking
into this thing.
You walk into the main lobby.
It's a rectangular room wherewood paneling adorned the white
painted walls and round mirrorshung in place of paintings.
Now, in the case of the authorwho stayed at one, checking was
simple.
They had booked their stay theday before on the websites.
All they had to do was put downa security deposit and collect
(35:19):
my key card.
For on the websites, all I hadto do was put down a security
deposit and collect my key card.
They had bought a one night ina single pod, which is Miko's
slightly larger pod variant.
It was only three bucks moreexpensive than the cheaper bunk
bed pod, so I decided to splurge.
So let me stop right there.
This is the part that I'mhaving trouble with.
I'm traveling to a city.
(35:42):
I'm going to spend the nightbecause I just need a place to
sleep.
So you know, try one of thesepod hotels.
Where is my security?
Because I don't know nothingabout none of these people?
And oh yeah, let me add in therest of it Communal bathrooms.
No, not doing that and a lockerfor your things.
(36:06):
I mean you're just getting thebest necessities.
You sleep in a shared room withamenities like bathrooms are
communal and in these designsthis is really stripped down.
You won't find no fancy decor,no wallpaper or paintings, only
blank walls.
Again, I can understand.
(36:29):
I know a number of people whohave done their traveling and
they've stayed at these placestry to save money.
But in today's world, my bigquestion with a pod hotel,
particularly in America,particularly right now, security
, just because my bunk mate youknow paid and you know got
(36:53):
SecureKey, don't mean they'reokay.
All it means is they paid themoney.
They're in there.
There is nothing.
There are no locks other thanthe building's secure, but I'm
talking about people who arepassing through there.
I don't get this part and maybeit's my age.
I don't get it.
And honestly, in Boston it's$85 a night for literally a bed.
(37:13):
In fairness, about 20 years agoI stayed in Midtown Manhattan
in supposedly a hotel room at aSheraton and that room was
barely big enough to hold a bedin.
It did have a bathroom, but Iswear.
I think I put my hands out andI think I was able to touch the
walls on each side of the room.
I really do.
(37:35):
It was tight and back then itwas $170 a night for that.
So maybe cost is part of it, Idon't know.
I just you know I wanted toshare this with you because it
was so different, so unique.
It was part of transportationand travel and the fact that
it's happening here.
(37:55):
But I can't see this One.
Americans like the privacy.
We all like our privacy,particularly when we travel.
You're in a strange town.
Heck, even if it's a town youknow you're staying, you don't
know these people around you andnowadays even a locked door
ain't necessarily the bestsecurity you got.
So a pod hotel I know they'rebig in Europe, they're really
(38:19):
big in Japan, but it's a wholedifferent lifestyle.
It's a whole different valueset.
Unlike the freewheeling UnitedStates, people are more formal
in Japan.
People are more proper in Japan.
People are more polite in Japan.
I'm not saying it can't happen,but I'm saying I would be very
uncomfortable in a situationlike that.
(38:42):
Now, to her credit, she was ableto control the lighting in her
little place.
She could pull down a shade orit was good and dark so she
could get some sleep and it wasa little fan she could turn on
to drown out all the noise.
But if you wanted any kind ofentertainment, it was your phone
.
That's what you're going tobring, although you had a place
to plug it in.
You had a place to storeminimum stuff.
(39:07):
You ain't bringing an overnightbag as you know it.
You're going to be bringingless than that even.
And then I don't even know aboutthis communal bathroom stuff.
I mean, how often are theycleaned?
And if the person and how manybathrooms are there, the
communal?
And I was led to believe inthis piece that even on her
floor there was more than one.
So I'm not really sure how thatworks.
But yeah, it's just.
(39:29):
It seems to be a weird processand I guess it's one thing that
if you're younger you relate toit.
Being older, I am spoiled.
I like my privacy, I like myhotel room, I like my quiet and
I'm sure anyone else does.
Now she talked about inside ofher room, wood panels separated
about 20 pods.
(39:50):
The tinier bunk bed pods satstacked on top of each other,
while the larger single pods hadmore ceiling space and each pod
held a panel with an outlet,buttons controlling light and
fan and a small pocket to holdyour phone.
That was kind of it.
That's kind of all you getright there.
In that she complained that herpod wasn't as sci-fi as the one
(40:14):
she'd stayed in in Tokyo, whichwas smaller and made of smooth
white plastic like the inside ofan MRI machine, but still felt
unusual.
My question is obviously you'renot going to stay at a pot if
you're claustrophobic.
If claustrophobia is your issue, this is not the place you're
going to go.
So here's the question Wouldyou consider if your passenger
(40:38):
needed a place to sleep clean,dry and we're going to assume
safe relatively If you justneeded a place to sleep, would
you consider a pod hotel if onewas available, particularly if
you could save upwards of 50% ofthe cost of a regular hotel
room?
How important is ultimatesecurity to you and do you get
(41:02):
claustrophobic?
Is your space important to you?
These would be the questionsthat I would ask.
I'd want to see this thing formyself, but for me personally,
no, no, I don't see me seeinganything like that anytime soon.
Ever.
I might go look at it, but Idoubt very much I would sleep
there only because just safety,I can't.
(41:24):
If I don't feel safe, I won'tsleep.
It just won't happen.
And in something that tight inthat with other people that you
don't know.
That's the issue you.
Welcome to the Tech Mobility Podcast.
Speaker 2 (00:10):
I'm Ken Chester On the docket.
Real-time deep-faith fraud ishere, the perfect EV battery and
introducing Mecco, boston'sfirst and only pod hotel.
To add your voice to theconversation, be it to ask a
question, share an opinion oreven suggest a topic for future
(00:31):
discussion, call or text theTechMobility hotline, that
number, 872-222-9793.
Or you can email the showdirectly.
Talk at techmobilityshow.
For those of you who subscribeto Substack, you can find me
there too.
It's at Ken, the letter C, iowa, i-o-w-a.
(00:55):
So Ken, K-E-N-C-I-O-W-A.
You can find me there From theTech Mobility News Desk, me
there From the TechMobility NewsDesk.
I've said a lot and I'm going tosay it again.
We are a mobility show and atechnology show and I like to
(01:19):
talk about being at thatintersection because there's so
much going on right now that isafoot in both worlds and a lot
of time and increasingly thetechnology, no matter where it's
developed, gets related at somepoint to mobility.
It's really cool and it'salmost regardless of what it is.
I literally could almost alwaystie it to some mode of
(01:39):
transportation, some kind of way.
This is one of these.
This is in Massachusetts and,yes, it's where I'm from and I
do subscribe to the Boston Globefull disclosure, and
occasionally I find interestingthings.
This is one of them.
The Commonwealth ofMassachusetts is launching what
(02:00):
they call an e-bike incentiveprogram, and the state is
targeting lower-income residents, although cycling advocates are
hoping the state eventuallyexpands the program.
Now, to be fair, the numbersthey're talking is a drop in the
bucket.
The Commonwealth ofMassachusetts has 351 cities and
(02:20):
towns, over 12 counties, with apopulation of 5 million people.
This is literally a fewthousand, but what makes it
interesting, what makes it worthtalking about?
It's an attempt, which is partof a national attempt, to make
technology available to peoplethat don't have any other way of
(02:44):
travel.
They may be in a transportationdesert.
Public transportation may beblocks away, whether it be a bus
or a train or a subway.
Walking might be prohibited,particularly if you're trying to
carry groceries or you've got afamily.
But you may be in a positionwhere you can't afford a car.
Uber is too expensive for youand you do a lot of walking.
(03:06):
While walking is great, it hasits limits Weather, when you
need to haul stuff, things likethat.
What they're looking at and it'snot just in Massachusetts, but
what they're talking about iselectric bikes, which is pretty
awesome when you think about itIf you're not familiar with how
(03:27):
e-bikes really work.
It's a pedal bike with electricassist, which means, yes, you
can pedal, but if you need helpgetting up hills, you've got
that.
Think of it as a hybrid forbikes, where you've got your
personal energy with an electricassist.
Much the same way, a hybrid hasgasoline energy with an
(03:49):
electric assist and would comein really handy.
Rolling this out, they want itto be a transportation option
that would otherwise not beavailable.
Now you say, well, gee,electric bikes, they must be
expensive.
Well, they are Compared to aregular bike, which could even
(04:11):
cost you up to $1,000, these aredouble that.
E-bikes cost an average of twogrand to purchase and many
cities and several states havebegun offering discounts to cut
back on road congestion andclimate warming emission from
cars.
Now Massachusetts is rollingout 3,000 vouchers over a
(04:33):
six-month period, which canreach up to $1,200 in discounts
at participatingbrick-and-mortar retailers.
So they're basicallysubsidizing people of limited
income or lower means to be ableto get a bike.
Now the beautiful part aboutthe bikes that they're offering
they're offering some thingscalled cargo bikes, which takes
(04:53):
an e-bike to the next level andactually lets you carry stuff
like maybe groceries or anotherindividual or something like
that.
Those also qualify and thatwould be a real help.
They said we do think it willsell out.
Sell out.
I anticipate they probably havea waiting list.
If you're in easternMassachusetts, which is pretty
(05:15):
heavily settled, even when youget outside of Boston, if you go
within 50 miles ofMassachusetts, it's pretty
thickly settled and publictransportation is a benefit,
particularly now that in theyears that I've left the state,
traffic in eastern Massachusettshas gone from difficult to
impossible.
The roads are not wide.
(05:37):
I mean they were cow paths 100years ago, 200 years ago, and
they were limited in terms ofwhat they could build, both in
infrastructure and availablespace.
So Eastern Massachusetts, youcan forget about it.
However, walking doesn't lenditself because in those suburbs
sidewalks are not consistent oruser-friendly all the time.
(06:00):
So an e-bike could be thesolution when you're trying to
get around, when you're outsideof or away from public
transportation, which is stilleven in Massachusetts.
There's a lot of it, butthere's still places where you
can't, or the schedule is notuser-friendly for what you need
to do or you've got errands ordoctor's appointments and stuff
(06:22):
like that.
Initially the state said about500 vouchers will be equally
distributed across five regionsof the state and, as I mentioned
earlier, can also be used one-cargo bikes designed to haul
children or large loads, andadaptive e-bikes.
This is a quote.
E-bikes are magic carpets.
(06:42):
These things flatten hills,they shorten distances, they
allow you to arrive at yourdestination without big exertion
, making them a fundamentalchoice for performing errands or
traveling to work.
And that's from Scott Mullen,transportation and man
Management Director atBoston-based nonprofit A Better
City.
Not everyone can afford an EVand, as I have lamented many
(07:08):
times that right now, the waythat EVs work and the
availability of public chargingand the lack of private charging
unless you own a home, makes it, if you're an apartment dweller
, owning an EV is difficult, ifnot downright inconvenient,
unless you spend a lot of moneyand you have one with phenomenal
range.
We're not there yet, even forme.
(07:30):
I am fortunate.
As an apartment dweller, I dohave EV facilities within three
miles of my house.
However, it's stillinconvenient because it doesn't
have any kind of roof or shelter, which means in all weather.
I will be out in all weather ifI owned an EV, and right now,
with the technology being whatit is extreme heat and extreme
(07:53):
cold, impact range big time.
They can fix that and I'mexpecting in future years they
will, but right now this iswhere you're at.
Well, but right now this iswhere you're at.
So even if you had a vehiclewith a range of 300 miles in a
cold Iowa winter, if it sat fora couple of days, you could lose
60, 70, 80 of those miles justbecause it sat in a cold,
(08:13):
because you didn't have a garage, you couldn't keep it heated.
These e-bikes fill the gap forfolks who don't own a home,
can't afford an EV, have limitedchoices relative to
transportation.
This gives these folks anopportunity to participate in
(08:33):
clean transportation, getsomething that will actually be
a help to them, because I can'timagine working a service job
and having to ride your bikehome after working all day
usually eight, 10, heaven knowshow many hours.
An e-bike would be helpful,particularly if there are hills
in your commute and particularlyif the commute you need to make
(08:54):
doesn't happen to go along anyconvenient bus lines or the
hours that you need to workdon't coincide with the bus or
train schedule.
This would be a help.
This would be a help.
This would be a help.
According to Massachusetts, in2022,.
They launched this, ebaylaunched the beginning of the
(09:18):
rebate program to help meet thestate's aggressive climate goals
to zero out greenhouse gasemissions by 2050 and add
150,000 electric vehicles to theroad by the end of 2024.
Yeah, they fell short becausethere's a lot more work to do.
We've talked about that.
People have tried to criticizeme for not talking about that
(09:40):
side of it and I've talked aboutit extensively.
If you want to go back, go backabout 18 months ago, when I
talked about my trip to Chicagoin an EV and I talked about the
shortcomings and the fact thatit added three hours to my
five-hour trip and I was stilllate.
And that was with high-speed,available and working EV
(10:02):
chargers.
What you hear now, what you see, is convincingly faked.
Welcome to the age of real-timedeepfake fraud.
You are listening to the TechMobility Show.
Speaker 1 (10:15):
Are you tired of juggling multiple apps and
platforms for meetings, webinarsand staying connected?
Look no further thanAONMeetingscom, the all-in-one
browser-based platform that doesit all.
With AONMeetings, you caneffortlessly communicate with
clients, host virtual meetingsand webinars and stay in touch
with family and friends all inone place and for one price.
Here's the best part you canenjoy a 30-day free trial.
(10:36):
It's time to simplify your lifeand boost your productivity.
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Speaker 2 (10:46):
Social media is the main place to be these days, and
we are no exception.
I'm Ken Chester of the TechMobility Show.
If you enjoy my program, thenyou will also enjoy my weekly
Facebook videos, from my latestvehicle reviews to timely
commentary of a variety ofmobility and technology-related
topics.
These short features aredesigned to inform and delight
you.
Be sure to watch, like andfollow us on Facebook.
(11:08):
You can find us by typing theTech Mobility Show in the search
bar.
Be sure to subscribe to ourFacebook page.
Social media is the place to bethese days.
We're no exception.
I'm ken chester, the techmobility show.
If you enjoy my program, thenyou will also enjoy my weekly
instagram videos, from thelatest vehicle reviews to timely
(11:30):
commentary on a variety ofmobility and technology related
topics.
These short features aredesigned to inform and delight
you be sure to watch, like andfollow us on Instagram.
You can find us by typing theTech Mobility Show in the search
bar.
For those of you that listen topodcasts, we have just the one
for you.
Hi, I'm Ken Chester.
(11:50):
Tech Mobility Topics is apodcast where I upload
topic-specific videos each week,shorter than a full show.
These bite-sized programs arejust the thing, particularly if
you're interested in aparticular topic covered on the
weekly radio show, from ApplePodcasts to iHeartRadio and many
podcast platforms in between.
We got you covered.
Just enter Tech Mobility Topicsin the search bar, wherever you
(12:12):
listen to podcasts.
Speaker 3 (12:19):
The new Saab 900.
It won Automobile Magazine'sDesign of the Year.
Consumers Digest rated it aBest Buy.
Kiplinger's Personal FinanceMagazine called it the best new
car in its class, but with a 50%stiffer body.
The new 900 is designed tosurvive much more than the
(12:39):
scrutiny of the press.
Test drive the Saab 900, a new900 turbo coupe.
Speaker 2 (12:48):
You would have loved that TV commercial.
This is from the late 80s early90s.
It's the Saab 900.
And what they showed is a groupof five guys come up to the car
while an aerator is talking,pick the car up and turn it over
, roll it on its roof and thenroll it back on its wheels and
then, once they've done that,got into the car and drove it
(13:10):
away.
Now the commercial also gives adisclosure at the bottom that
this is an unmodified car, inother words, a regular
production car.
They did not do anything to itand the point they wanted to
make visually is how strong thecar is, that, yeah, you could
roll it over on its top and thenroll it back over and it'll
drive away.
It's fine, powerful message.
(13:32):
Just two bad subs not aroundanymore, and that's a case of
corporate shenanigans when GMbought them and then got caught
up in financial hard times backin the recession about 15 years
ago, and now SOPS no more.
But it was pretty cool.
Artificial intelligence anddeep fake software it's the
(13:56):
perfect marriage of tools andmethods that are easily
available to secure and use byanybody.
Needless to say, fraudsters andother bad actors of all stripes
have been having a field day,from online romance scams to
defrauding car dealers and eventhe h HR departments of major
(14:16):
tech companies.
The nightmare is real.
This is topic A.
It used to be that you couldeasily spot these scammers.
Things didn't add up quiteright the speech was a little
broken, the video wasn't in syncor looked just a little off.
(14:37):
That was then.
In the last five years, thesetools have gotten so
increasingly sophisticated.
The old folks used to have asaying believe half of what you
see and none of what you hear.
Nowadays is you can't believewhat you see or hear.
(14:57):
I've talked about, off and onand down through the last year
or so, all sorts of scamminggoing on.
I mean the romance scams havebeen going on forever.
Now it's bad where people canactually disguise themselves in
real time and that's the kicker.
(15:19):
Before they had to kind of putit together and it was ways you
could tell because they had todo it a bit.
But the software is so goodthey can fake you out talking to
you in real time and youwouldn't realize that the person
you think you're talking to,that you see on your device, is
not the person Completelydifferent person who's disguised
their look disguised their lookdisguised, their voice,
(15:40):
disguised, their surroundings.
And what's scary is, in somecases this stuff is good enough
to start to defeat an otherwisefool.
The automated process isdesigned to catch this stuff.
In the banking industry theycall those tools KYC know your
(16:04):
customer and a certainbenchmarks and certain things
that they do to make sure youare who you say you are when
they see you.
We've talked about in the pastabout remote vehicle buying and
how that has become an issue andthe car dealership is ground
(16:27):
zero for them.
Trying to prove this to thepoint where car dealers now,
even if you're going to buy itat your home, require an
in-person visit at least one,because they're finding that
looking at the phone and even ifeverything else checks out
don't work, they're stillgetting fooled and the
(16:49):
consequences of them notcatching it could be billions,
not millions, of dollars.
The new scam now, as they'regoing into business, is they are
sending and this is happening.
I just read a piece about this.
There are legions of SouthKoreans holing up, masquerading
(17:09):
as other people to get jobslegitimate jobs in major
companies, with the attempt todefraud them by either getting
access to sensitive informationand then blackmailing with it,
or other, infiltrating tomanipulate from within the
company.
And even if they get found outthey've got enough information
by that time.
(17:29):
They threaten to go public withit unless the company pays them
a fee.
This is not theory, this ishappening right now.
There was a piece in the WallStreet Journal I just saw it
where the writer actually tookus through a video that she did,
where she showed us how shecould disguise, look like
(17:53):
somebody different, talk in adifferent voice, do different
things in real time, and thenshe took us behind the veil to
show us what software she used,what images they used, what they
ran it through.
But here's the kicker that kindof power, that kind of software
used to cost a lot of money.
It doesn't anymore and in factsome of it is open source,
(18:16):
meaning you don't have to payanything.
Doesn't anymore, and in factsome of it is open source,
meaning you don't have to payanything, and it continues to
get better and better and better.
Let me give an example.
I don't want to say innocent,because it really isn't, but
here's something.
This is a piece from 404 Media.
(18:37):
The title is Real-Time, deepFake Fraud is here and it gives
an example and I'm going to readthis to you because I want you
to get an idea.
I'm going to read theseparagraphs to you Because I
think it explains it.
In this one example and I quoteAt least now, I saw that you're
way more gorgeous and beautifulthan you were in the photo you
(19:00):
sent me.
An older white man with agraying beard said during a
Skype video call he's talking toan elderly woman who appears to
be in her car staring at herphone's front-facing camera.
She laughs at the compliment.
The smiling man keeps going.
I think I should send securityto keep you safe so no one comes
.
He says.
To that, the woman laughs evenmore.
I'll be okay.
(19:20):
She reassures the man.
But the bearded man, however,doesn't really exist.
Instead, he's a real-time deepfake created by a fraudster
likely to lure the woman as partof a romance scam and have her
send money.
Someone filming the interactioncaptures what is really
happening.
This is what really was goingon.
(19:42):
A young black man is sitting infront of a laptop with a webcam
, and software is thenautomatically transforming his
appearance to that of a mucholder white man and feeding that
into Skype.
All live, live, on the fly, inreal time.
And this software is now sogood that one of the ways that
(20:03):
usually you could catch it bythem holding things or holding
things up your face uh-uh, thatdoesn't even kick it.
This is the reality of fraudtoday, where scammers are able
to digitally manipulate theirappearance in real time to match
a photo on a driver's license,dating profile or a celebrity
Like a chameleon.
(20:23):
These scammers, who could beinvolved in everything from
romance scams like the one wejust talked about to fraudulent
tax refunds, can hide their trueappearance with just a laptop
and a phone and produce veryrealistic results, and they're
getting to a point where theywill be able to fool the best
systems that are currently beingused by industry to detect them
(20:47):
.
This actually went into thedetail of the software they use.
All of it is available.
You can get all of it, and I amnot talking thousands of
dollars either.
This is what you need to beaware of.
Be careful.
Can a Massachusetts startupengineer the perfect EV battery?
This is the Tech Mobility Show.
(21:17):
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(21:37):
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Hi, I'm Ken Chester, host ofthe Tech Mobility Show.
Several times a week I post toTikTok several of the topics
that I cover on my weekly radioshow.
(21:59):
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(22:25):
Lithium-ion batteries.
Lithium ion batteries this isthe chemistry that powers most
mobile electrical devices thatare not plugged in, from your
cell phone to the average ev.
The chemistry is actually ametal slurry that comes with a
list of downsides, which caninclude shorting out and causing
a thermal runaway, whichresults in those difficult to
extinguish fires you may haveseen on social media.
But what if a new kind ofelectric vehicle battery can do
away with the bad things of thecurrent batteries?
(22:46):
Do it for less money and longerrange.
This is the goal of a smallMassachusetts startup.
This is topic B.
The name of the company isFactorial.
This is topic B.
The name of the company isFactorial, and I need to give
you full disclosure that bothMercedes and several other
automakers have invested in thissmall company and they're
(23:08):
trying to do what Toyota,hyundai and a handful of other
companies are attempting to do.
They want to develop a saferalternative to lithium ion the
way it is now, and it's calledsolid state.
We started talking about solidstate batteries a number of
years ago when Toyota said atthe beginning of the decade at
(23:29):
the Tokyo Games Olympic Gamesthat they believed at that time
that they would have a prototypeand that solid-state batteries
would be in production by themiddle of this decade, and they
were talking some phenomenalmileage figures.
It was phenomenal.
Problem is it's not happening.
(23:50):
I'm going to explain why thatin a minute.
In the case of Factorial, they,to public knowledge, is the
first and only battery companydeveloping a solid state
alternative to lithium ion thatactually has tested their
batteries in an EV in real worldexperience.
(24:13):
There's a lot of companieschasing.
There's a lot of companieschasing, but right now, to
(24:34):
historical knowledge.
Best we know, factorial is theonly one that actually got it
done back in 2023, actually in aMercedes-Benz, an EQS EV, using
their battery.
Let's talk about why solid-statebatteries are not.
I mean, you're looking atbillions of dollars.
There's a lot of companieschasing this right now.
So what's the problem?
Many startups have producedsolid-state battery prototypes,
but no American or Europeancarmaker has put one in a
(24:55):
production vehicle and provedthat the technology could
survive the bumps, vibrationsand moisture of the street.
Or, if they have, they kept asecret and that was up till
Factorial did it.
Here's when they did it.
Here's the big problem, becausesolid-state batteries don't
(25:20):
overheat, don't have that kindof problem.
They can be charged fasterperhaps in as little time as it
takes to fill up a car withgasoline, and they're more dense
.
They pack more energy into asmaller space, reducing weight
and increasing range.
But the reason why you haven'theard more about solid-state
(25:41):
batteries, why you cannot godown and buy an EV with a
solid-state battery pack, isbecause solid-state batteries
have one big drawback theirbattery cells, as engineered
right now, are prone to growspiky irregularities that cause
(26:02):
short circuits.
Any company that can figure outhow to get around that and
develop a battery that isdurable, safe and reasonably
easy to manufacture.
Basically, it's like theunicorn right now.
That is the number one problem.
The other problem much the sameway developing computer chips
(26:22):
requires a clean room, verysophisticated equipment and a
very sophisticated engineeringinfrastructure, which is why you
just can't buy, you can't justbuild a chip factory just
because you have the money.
You have to have the talent,the room and the expertise to do
it, and there's only a handfulof folk in the world that know
(26:44):
how to do it.
You got the same problem here.
Yields to develop these batterypacks, these battery cells, are
real tricky.
Factorial has been working nowfor three years to get their
yields up, basically to make itcommercial.
To be able to have a batteryfactory at commercial grade and
(27:04):
scale it up, they need to have ayield up over 90%.
When Factorio started theiryield was 10% here.
By the time they startedshipping battery cells to
Mercedes, their yield was 85%,still need to be 90.
And they need to be able to doit consistently.
And they're not there yet.
But neither is anybody else.
(27:27):
What people miss?
One of the big things peoplemiss about this whole EV arms
race is all the technology thatgets developed, ancillary to
developing the battery, or thechemicals or the inputs, or how
it's done.
Aerodynamic issues, weightissues, chemistry issues, all
(27:48):
get dealt with, which will havebenefits beyond the EV industry
and may in fact have benefitsfor the electrical industry and
whole other industries that arenot directly tied to it, because
of the activities and the moneybeing spent to resolve these
problems.
That is one wonderful thing.
(28:09):
If you're a certain age, youremember when President John F
Kennedy committed the UnitedStates to putting a man on the
moon in 10 years.
The Great Space Race in 10years.
The great space race 10 yearsby the end of the 1960s, july
(28:30):
20th 1969 to be.
In fact, we did just that, butthe money we spent as a country
to get there generated a lot ofinventions along the way that
had nothing to do with space atall.
Let me name drop one that'sprobably in your kitchen.
The microwave is one of thoseexamples, one of many examples.
We're doing the same thing herewith EVs.
(28:50):
In the case of Factorial, theyactually proved it in a Mercedes
, but it's just one car.
What has to happen now is theygot to put a fleet out there,
because automakers hate risk.
They're almost as bad as banksand insurance companies.
They, contrary to what you mightbelieve about automakers, risk
is not their thing.
(29:10):
They're going to drive cars.
They're going to run thesethrough extremely hot, extremely
cold, they're going to makethem wet, they're going to make
them salty, they're going to doall kinds of things to try to
make it to fail.
And once, wherever it fails,then they're going to do better
to resolve the problem, becausethey don't want it to fail when
you get it, when you buy it.
(29:32):
As a result, they don't evenexpect that there'll be vehicles
in production with solid statebatteries much before 2028, but
check this out, that's less thanthree years from now.
But even they're confident.
They believe that there may bevehicles on the road in
production with solid statebatteries in the early 2030s.
That's literally less than fiveyears away, which, in the auto
(29:56):
industry, is no time at all.
Takes longer than that to plan,build and equip an assembly
plant to bring a new productonline.
These guys are playing the longgame because, honestly, like I
told you, told you years ago andI'm going to say it again,
lithium ion is a crossoverchemical.
The current battery chemistriesare going to be obsolete in
(30:19):
five years, if not ten.
What we know now is not evengoing to be how we're powering
anything electric, includingyour phones.
There's so many new chemistriesout there all trying to get
away from the shortcomings ofregular lithium-ion as we know
it.
They'll get costs down, they'llget quality up, they'll get
charging up and they'll getdensities increased and, as a
(30:42):
result, we will all be betteroff, no telling all the
inventions that will getdiscovered along the way, which
have nothing to do with EVbatteries but will benefit from
all that money that got spent asthey develop and resolve these
problems.
Getting this to scale.
They're called pod hotels, andBoston has one.
(31:07):
We are the Tech Mobility Show.
To learn more about the TechMobility Show, start by visiting
our website.
Hi, I'm Ken Chester, host ofthe Tech Mobility Show.
The website is a treasure troveof information about me and the
(31:28):
show, as well as where to findit on the radio across the
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Keep up with the happenings ofthe Tech Mobility Show by
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You can also drop us a line attalk at techmobilityshow.
Did you know that TechMobilityhas a YouTube channel?
(31:50):
Hi, I'm Ken Chester, host ofthe TechMobility Show.
Each week, I upload a few shortvideos of some of the hot
topics that I cover during myweekly radio program.
I've designed these videos tobe informative and entertaining.
It's another way to keep up oncurrent mobility and technology
news and information.
Be sure to watch, like andsubscribe to my channel.
That's the Tech Mobility Showon YouTube.
(32:11):
Check it out.
Speaker 1 (32:15):
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Speaker 2 (32:48):
Social media is the place to be these days, and
we're no exception.
I'm Ken Chester of the TechMobility Show.
If you enjoy my program, thenyou will also enjoy my weekly
Instagram videos, from thelatest vehicle reviews to timely
commentary on a variety ofmobility and technology.
So have you ever heard ofsomething called a pod hotel?
A pod hotel are hotels whereguests sleep in tiny
(33:27):
compartments with beds insidesomething known as pods.
These pods come in all shapesand sizes square and round,
metal and wooden.
Many aren't even large enoughto sit up in.
So I gotta ask what's the point?
This is Topic C.
Well, if you are a globaltraveler, particularly to Europe
(33:48):
, you probably are familiar withhostels and a hostel.
These are a lot like those, andI'm still asking what's the
point Me?
I like my privacy in my hotelroom and I snore, so you know
why would I want to be insomething like this, with
limited privacy and security asan issue?
This is Boston, by the way, notfar from the North End.
(34:10):
I used to work in the North End, so I just don't get it.
I don't get it, but here'swhat's going on.
The writer talked about podhotels and they've existed in
Japan since 1979.
I heard of them and after 40years they started blowing up on
American social media and inthe last five years they started
(34:34):
popping up in the United States.
The city of Boston has one, andI'm not surprised it's called
the Miko Hotel.
Now the Miko sits off a busyintersection, less than a block
from the TD Garden, which is theold Boston Garden, and that's
in the North End.
Like I said, I used to workthere.
Okay, they walk.
(34:57):
Let me paint you a picture ofwhat you could expect walking
into this thing.
You walk into the main lobby.
It's a rectangular room wherewood paneling adorned the white
painted walls and round mirrorshung in place of paintings.
Now, in the case of the authorwho stayed at one, checking was
simple.
They had booked their stay theday before on the websites.
All they had to do was put downa security deposit and collect
(35:19):
my key card.
For on the websites, all I hadto do was put down a security
deposit and collect my key card.
They had bought a one night ina single pod, which is Miko's
slightly larger pod variant.
It was only three bucks moreexpensive than the cheaper bunk
bed pod, so I decided to splurge.
So let me stop right there.
This is the part that I'mhaving trouble with.
I'm traveling to a city.
(35:42):
I'm going to spend the nightbecause I just need a place to
sleep.
So you know, try one of thesepod hotels.
Where is my security?
Because I don't know nothingabout none of these people?
And oh yeah, let me add in therest of it Communal bathrooms.
No, not doing that and a lockerfor your things.
(36:06):
I mean you're just getting thebest necessities.
You sleep in a shared room withamenities like bathrooms are
communal and in these designsthis is really stripped down.
You won't find no fancy decor,no wallpaper or paintings, only
blank walls.
Again, I can understand.
(36:29):
I know a number of people whohave done their traveling and
they've stayed at these placestry to save money.
But in today's world, my bigquestion with a pod hotel,
particularly in America,particularly right now, security
, just because my bunk mate youknow paid and you know got
(36:53):
SecureKey, don't mean they'reokay.
All it means is they paid themoney.
They're in there.
There is nothing.
There are no locks other thanthe building's secure, but I'm
talking about people who arepassing through there.
I don't get this part and maybeit's my age.
I don't get it.
And honestly, in Boston it's$85 a night for literally a bed.
(37:13):
In fairness, about 20 years agoI stayed in Midtown Manhattan
in supposedly a hotel room at aSheraton and that room was
barely big enough to hold a bedin.
It did have a bathroom, but Iswear.
I think I put my hands out andI think I was able to touch the
walls on each side of the room.
I really do.
(37:35):
It was tight and back then itwas $170 a night for that.
So maybe cost is part of it, Idon't know.
I just you know I wanted toshare this with you because it
was so different, so unique.
It was part of transportationand travel and the fact that
it's happening here.
(37:55):
But I can't see this One.
Americans like the privacy.
We all like our privacy,particularly when we travel.
You're in a strange town.
Heck, even if it's a town youknow you're staying, you don't
know these people around you andnowadays even a locked door
ain't necessarily the bestsecurity you got.
So a pod hotel I know they'rebig in Europe, they're really
(38:19):
big in Japan, but it's a wholedifferent lifestyle.
It's a whole different valueset.
Unlike the freewheeling UnitedStates, people are more formal
in Japan.
People are more proper in Japan.
People are more polite in Japan.
I'm not saying it can't happen,but I'm saying I would be very
uncomfortable in a situationlike that.
(38:42):
Now, to her credit, she was ableto control the lighting in her
little place.
She could pull down a shade orit was good and dark so she
could get some sleep and it wasa little fan she could turn on
to drown out all the noise.
But if you wanted any kind ofentertainment, it was your phone
.
That's what you're going tobring, although you had a place
to plug it in.
You had a place to storeminimum stuff.
(39:07):
You ain't bringing an overnightbag as you know it.
You're going to be bringingless than that even.
And then I don't even know aboutthis communal bathroom stuff.
I mean, how often are theycleaned?
And if the person and how manybathrooms are there, the
communal?
And I was led to believe inthis piece that even on her
floor there was more than one.
So I'm not really sure how thatworks.
But yeah, it's just.
(39:29):
It seems to be a weird processand I guess it's one thing that
if you're younger you relate toit.
Being older, I am spoiled.
I like my privacy, I like myhotel room, I like my quiet and
I'm sure anyone else does.
Now she talked about inside ofher room, wood panels separated
about 20 pods.
(39:50):
The tinier bunk bed pods satstacked on top of each other,
while the larger single pods hadmore ceiling space and each pod
held a panel with an outlet,buttons controlling light and
fan and a small pocket to holdyour phone.
That was kind of it.
That's kind of all you getright there.
In that she complained that herpod wasn't as sci-fi as the one
(40:14):
she'd stayed in in Tokyo, whichwas smaller and made of smooth
white plastic like the inside ofan MRI machine, but still felt
unusual.
My question is obviously you'renot going to stay at a pot if
you're claustrophobic.
If claustrophobia is your issue, this is not the place you're
going to go.
So here's the question Wouldyou consider if your passenger
(40:38):
needed a place to sleep clean,dry and we're going to assume
safe relatively If you justneeded a place to sleep, would
you consider a pod hotel if onewas available, particularly if
you could save upwards of 50% ofthe cost of a regular hotel
room?
How important is ultimatesecurity to you and do you get
(41:02):
claustrophobic?
Is your space important to you?
These would be the questionsthat I would ask.
I'd want to see this thing formyself, but for me personally,
no, no, I don't see me seeinganything like that anytime soon.
Ever.
I might go look at it, but Idoubt very much I would sleep
there only because just safety,I can't.
(41:24):
If I don't feel safe, I won'tsleep.
It just won't happen.
And in something that tight inthat with other people that you
don't know.
That's the issue you.
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